Very important to read this category before bidding on a hotel stay. The importance of familiarizing yourself with this FAQ cannot be stressed enough. Check
regularly for updates. Both the Hotel FAQ and the Bidding Assistance Form are located in this forum.

The Importance of Reading the FAQ Before Bidding

Comments have been posted indicating that the FAQ is confusing for some first-time users and they want more detailed city-specific information available to them on this board. The reason why we cannot do this is because Priceline changes things on their website frequently so if you rely on information here and do not check Priceline's website for yourself, you may rely on outdated information that could cause you to make a mistake in your bidding, and as you know, Priceline reservations are non-changeable, non-cancellable and non-refundable. The goal of this message board is to make you an informed bidder. In that regard, I will not allow anything to be posted on this message board that would contribute to making any mistake in your bidding.

While I do agree that the whole Priceline experience can be confusing and overwhelming at times, it is very evident from some of the complaining posts that there was a reading issue involved. I've lost count of how many times someone has posted a question, prefaced by a comment that they read the FAQ, yet their question is answered in black and white on the FAQ. No amount of bid coaching will cure that!!

One of the moderators volunteered yesterday to begin working on a step-by-step guide geared toward the first-time user. Once he has completed it, it will be posted here. In the meantime, one of our members, pomcoach, has posted a reply to a winning bid post by another member in the Orlando category of the board, which I believe is an excellent commentary on the importance of studying the FAQ. Here's what she posted:

I can understand what you say about the FAQ. At first when I read it, there were parts that just seemed like an Algebra text book, because the terms seemed foreign to me. But as I studied other people's posts, I began to learn the language. Then I actually had to bid on Priceline, maybe just by bidding $1 to play around, just to get the idea. I learned how to click on a zone, then go to the next screen, just to see what star levels were offered in that zone. Even though that was explained in the FAQ, I just didn't understand until I tried it myself.
As for the list of Orlando Hotels, it is just a tremendous help to me. I am so grateful for all the work others did to compile it. But you can never totally count on it to be totally 100% up to date, because everyday, a new hotel could be added, or a zone could get other star levels, that we don't know about yet.
You can enjoy the info. of the Orlando Hotel list, but you have to think for yourself, when you are bidding. What I mean is, you can't rely on the Orlando list to do your work for you. Each time you bid, you have to check each zone to see what star levels are there at that moment. It could change at anytime. Happy Bidding! Pomcoach